Each week Head of School, Steve Warner, addresses
GreenMount parents in a weekly letter. This is his letter from October 4, 2011.
Greetings, GreenMount Community,
We
held our weekly morning meeting with the students today because of the field
trip yesterday. We had a good discussion
reflecting on the field trip and talking about excellence in the context of
it. Students were able to point out how
they were excellent in that they felt that they were attentive and showed
respect to the park rangers and others who gave presentations. One of our younger students pointed out that
the presenter at Ford’s Theater was excellent because he was interesting and
knew what he was talking about. This
prompted another discussion about how that presenter came to be so
knowledgeable and effective. The students got the idea that it takes
practice and doing something many times in order to be able to achieve excellence. It was easy to relate that idea to school
work and working things over many times in order to achieve an excellent
product. Our students are fortunate to
be at GreenMount, where they have “the time and space to learn” and the ability
to work on several iterations of a product.
We
also discussed the first part of our Second Pillar (Civility) and the idea of
“being aware of our impact on others.”
The children were spot on when describing this attribute of a GreenMount
student. They gave several examples,
such as not talking while others are speaking and being safe on the playground. The idea of being respectful of others was
generated from that conversation.
Can
you believe that all this was discussed in just 10 minutes? Ask your child sometime about the morning
meeting. I would like to get some
feedback as to how the students feel about these times together.
In an effort to keep lines of
communication open and ideas flowing freely, I am scheduling four parent
meetings during which you will have the opportunity to discuss issues with the
administration and to bring ideas and expertise to the table. We will stagger these meetings morning and
evening to give everyone the best possibility of attending at a time that is
good for them. Our first meeting will be
a on the morning of October 13 at 8:30 a.m.
This will be an open discussion with no agenda or specific items to be
discussed. Parents will generate the
agenda. Subsequently, we will ask room
parents to contact the parents in their homerooms and provide us with a list of
items to be discussed. This way, if a parent
is unable to attend, their question, suggestion, or concern will be heard. After each meeting, minutes will be
distributed to all families for your review.
I hope that these meetings will be as productive as they have been in
the past, addressing your needs and helping us to provide the best possible educational
experience for your children.
“It is a fact that in the right formation, the lifting
power of many wings can achieve twice the distance of any bird flying alone.” - Author Unknown
Cheers,
Steve
